NOTES.--Stanza iii., _merlin_, a species of hawk anciently much used in falconry; _falcon-lanner_, a species of long-tailed hawk. vi., _urochs_, wild bulls; _buffle_, buffalo. x., _St. Hubert_, before his conversion, was passionately devoted to hunting: he is the patron saint of hunters; _venerers, prickers, and verderers_, huntsmen, light horsemen, and preservers of the venison. xi., _wind a mort_, to sound a horn at the death of the stag; _a fifty-part canon_: Mr. Browning explained that "a canon, in music, is a piece wherein the subject is repeated in various keys, and, being strictly obeyed in the repetition, becomes the "canon"--the imperative law to what follows. Fifty of such parts would be indeed a notable peal; to manage three is enough of an achievement for a good musician." xiii., _hernshaw_, a heron; _fernshaw_, a fern-thicket; _helicat_, a hag; "_imps the wing of the hawk_": to "imp" means to insert a feather in the broken wing of a bird. xiv., _tomans_, Persian gold coins. xv., _gor-crow_, the carrion crow. xvii., _morion_, a kind of open helmet. _Orson the wood-knight_: twin-brother of Valentine; born in a wood near Orleans, and carried off by a bear, which suckled him with its cubs. He became the terror of France, and was called "the wild man of the forest."
=Flower's Name, The.= (_Garden Fancies_, I.--_Dramatic Lyrics_.) [Published in _Hood's Magazine_, July 1844.] With very few exceptions, Browning did not contribute to magazines. At the request of Mr. Monckton Milnes (afterwards Lord Houghton), he sent _The Flower's Name_, _Tokay_ and _Sibrandus Schafnaburgensis_ to "help in making up some magazine numbers for poor Hood, then at the point of death from hæmorrhage of the lungs, occasioned by the enlargement of the heart, which had been brought on by the wearing excitement of ceaseless and excessive literary toil." A lover visits a garden, and recalls a previous walk therein with the woman he loved; he remembers the flowers which she noticed, especially one whose name--"a soft, meandering Spanish name"--she gave him; he must learn Spanish "only for that slow, sweet name's sake." The very roses are only beautiful so far as they tell her footsteps.